Video Versus the Dreaded Employee Meeting

Video Versus the Dreaded Employee Meeting

Video Versus the Dreaded Employee Meeting

With the rise of software platforms like Brainshark and Captivate came the promise that HR managers and benefits advisors could finally just turn their PowerPoint presentations into feature-length videos, post them online, and change back into their pajamas instead of flying across the globe to deliver twenty meetings in three days.

It was a nice dream, but it’s not really working because employees are not voluntarily suffering through 30+ minutes of boring bullet points and “Bueller…Bueller…” -style narration.

Automated presentations are fine for skills development and other types of learning. They just don’t work as replacements for the in-person experience of employee benefits meetings.

The information that employees are processing during these meetings is highly personal. Every employee doesn’t need to make the same exact decision or learn the exact skill. They need to understand their benefits options and make an evaluation of what’s best for them.

In the interest of fairness and equal access to information many HR managers force this solution on employees in locations that are too small or simply impossible to travel to during their employee benefits enrollment tour. It seems like the fair and risk-adverse thing to deliver all of the same benefits information via an automated presentation—but is it working?

Not really.

When clients come to us asking for automated versions of their 60+ employee benefits slides we invite them to consider an alternative solution that we lovingly call the “need to know video.”

Employees really only need to know a few small details to encourage them to take greater ownership in learning more about their benefits. An engaging “need to know video” should simply cover these five things:

changes to current plans or providers;

open enrollment dates and deadlines;

what happens if you don’t enroll;

where to go for more detailed information about all of your benefits; and

how to enroll.

The best videos provide enough information to empower employees to educate themselves further via supplemental communications such as benefits microsites and summaries or guides.

Avoid the temptation to automate your entire benefits presentation out of fear that that one employee somewhere will feel slighted and overlooked. If that person really wants to read every bullet point word-for-word you can always make your presentation deck available online. You might also want to find out what’s wrong with that employee and see if maybe they’re as thorough with their job responsibilities as they are in their quest for benefits minutiae.

If you need help turning your employee benefits presentation into an engaging video to reach all employees in your organization, we can help.

We turn highly complex PowerPoint presentations into engaging “need to know” videos that inspire employees to take an active role in making more informed benefits decisions.